PEORIA, Ariz. — The Padres will begin their fourth season under manager Bud Black with today’s first spring training workout for pitchers and catchers. Black this week answered questions about his team, which went 75-87 last season, finishing in fourth place in the National League West.

QUESTION: Looking ahead, care to forecast what you think the Padres will do this season?

ANSWER: We’re a young club with developing and improving players. It’s tough to forecast what we will do. We’ve stayed relatively healthy. I’ll leave forecasts to other people.

QUESTION: What is the most intriguing question facing the Padres going into spring training:

ANSWER: The starting pitching. We have a number of guys with a chance to make the team. It’s going to be interesting to see how they perform in spring training. The whole group has shown signs that they are major league pitchers. We’re going to have depth down into the minors.

QUESTION: One of your projected starters, Chris Young, is coming off shoulder surgery. Can you update us on his status?

ANSWER: I have watched him throw since the first of the year and to me, his arm looks as good as I have seen it since 2007. He has great spin and rotation on the ball. All things are pointing in the right direction.

QUESTION: Can you speak of the importance of adding free-agent starter Jon Garland?

ANSWER: I would rate his addition as very important. He has always been a very durable and reliable performer. That’s Jon’s strength — take the ball, log innings, get wins. He will not come out early, which is a big plus for the bullpen.

QUESTION: Does the presence of Garland allow you to keep another player on the bench?

ANSWER: I think you’ve got the misconception we had an eight-man bullpen most of last season. We only went to 13 pitchers due to emergencies, an injury or a couple extra-long games which we had. Twelve pitchers is pretty much the major league standard and that’s what we’ll have, a seven-man bullpen.

QUESTION: And the status of that bullpen?

ANSWER: The bullpen was a major part of our improvement last year. Over the winter, a number of people in the game commented on how we’ve got one of the most-underrated bullpens in the game. Going into last year, our only known commodity was Heath Bell. Mike Adams, Luke Gregerson, Joe Thatcher, Edward Mujica, Luis Perdomo down the line, we developed as a unit last year.

QUESTION: You commented recently that some of your players last year stopped playing to keep going back to the minors and started playing like they belonged in the major leagues. Could you elaborate?

ANSWER: A lot of guys (Will Venable, Wade LeBlanc, Everth Cabrera, Nick Hundley) started feeling like they belonged up here and no longer were playing to survive. It’s a natural feeling that once you get to the major leagues, you don’t want to get sent back. So you’re playing to survive. I think it takes all players some time to acclimate themselves as major leaguers. Some do it in a month. Others take two to three years.

QUESTION: Care to take a guess at an over-under for the number of different lineups you use this season?

ANSWER: I saw recently that some manager had used 137 different lineup combinations. I have no idea. I know we’re going to be a lot more versatile. We’re going to use our roster and keep guys fresh. We’ve got a lot of parts that we can move around. Jerry Hairston Jr. and the outfielders give us a lot of flexibility.

QUESTION: How does the outfield shake out?

ANSWER: Except for Kyle Blanks, who can’t play center, all our outfielders are interchangeable to a certain degree. It’s going to be more mix-and-match than platooning. There won’t be a strict platoon. Re-acquiring Scott Hairston gives us a lot of flexibility across the entire outfield. And his brother can play outfield. So we have five.

QUESTION: One player not in the outfield mix is Chase Headley. How do you see his move to third base following the trade of Kevin Kouzmanoff?

ANSWER: Chase is going to be at home at third. When you look at his performance over the last two months of the season (when Headley spent most his time at third for the injured Kouzmanoff), that is more how we view Chase as a player. He played like a lot of guys do when they are returned to their natural position.

QUESTION: You are on record saying you believe Nick Hundley will develop as a major league catcher while also being on record about his shortcomings. Your stance on Nick?

ANSWER: He has a lot of upside, great intangibles and great makeup. But he has limited experience at a very demanding position that includes game-calling, defense, leadership. I think acquiring Yorvit Torrealba will push Nick. He should start realizing some of his potential.

QUESTION: Could you comment on Everth Cabrera?

ANSWER: He’s a fast learner and extremely skilled. He wants to excel. We will see growth just from him playing the game. Let me back track, we were about ready to make him our everyday shortstop last April when he suffered the injury (broken hook of the hamate bone in his left hand).